Involvement in Electronic Medicines Management Research: Professionals in Separate Worlds

Abstract

Focusing on electronic medicines management (eMM) within Norway’s healthcare system, we explore healthcare professionals’ involvement in qualitative research. The study employs interviews, observations, and community of practice as a method and involves interprofessional participation across levels of care. It uses Glouberman and Mintzberg’s framework of four distinct healthcare mindsets—community, control, cure, and care—to analyse professional involvement in eMM. Nurses and pharmacists are more involved in research on e-health initiatives than doctors. Traditionally, doctors have concentrated on “cure”, emphasizing problem-solving for individual patients, whereas nurses have been more involved in the coordination of “care”. For effective e-health implementation and participation in research, there should be a balanced emphasis on both “cure” and the coordination of “care”, acknowledging doctors’ independent and autonomous professional identities.